Brennan’s appointment comes at a time when Australia and New Zealand have the most unaffordable housing in the English speaking world, and the need for decent housing is paramount.

She plans to build on the organisations’ mission to provide affordable housing for families in need.

“The Habitat housing model is an innovative solution. I’m looking forward to growing this vibrant organisation by working with our partner families, members, sponsors, our volunteers, major corporations and government,” she said.

Brennan was drawn to HFHA because it provided the opportunity to work for an organisation that directly helps people by delivering a unique self-sustaining home ownership model, offering families in need a hand up not a hand out.

“The HFHA ideology is impressive; homes are sold to families financed through affordable loans, and the homeowners invest 500 hours of their own labour – what we call ‘sweat equity’ – into building their own home or the homes of other Habitat for Humanity families,” said Brennan.

“Habitat is an organisation that does amazing work through the generosity of donors, our volunteers and sponsors. With their continued support we can help even more families in both Australia and overseas achieve their dream of home ownership. This is the right time for HFHA and we are in a strong position to help.

“After meeting numerous high calibre candidates for the position of CEO we felt that Jo had the knowledge and the passion to grow our already successful organisation. Her knowledge of the not-for-profit sector and experiences as a volunteer made her an obvious choice – we are delighted to have her join our team,” said HFHA’s Chairman David Benn.

Brennan has joined HFHA from Macquarie Group, bringing with her extensive corporate experience coupled with knowledge of the not-for-profit sector and volunteer experience.